A Guest Speaker in the Special Youth Class

Yesterday I taught my first special youth class with Travis as my translator.  No sooner did I start teaching, when I found myself saying, " I need to learn Spanish.  It was frustrating to not be able to interact with the youth and young adults in the same way that I do in Canada.  Because Travis was translating, I had to try to stick close to the notes that I had prepared so that I could stay within the allotted time.  I found myself veering off course a couple times as I sensed a need to clarify things or ask different questions.  Travis adjusted amazingly to my little rabbit trails and the 30 or so youth and young adults actually laughed at some of my jokes.  All in all, I think it was a success and I hope that some seeds were able to take root.  The pastor/teacher in me wants so much to develop mentoring/discipleship relationships with some of the guys, but given our short time here and the somewhat full schedule I have I'm not sure that I can head in that direction very far.  Guess we'll see how it plays out. 

A little bit of my itinerary for you:
This Sunday, I am preaching in a small town an hour or so outside of Cuenca named Azugues.  We visited there on the 8th and it was hard not to fall in love with it.  The church was started a few years ago, but has struggled to keep a minister.  They are down to two faithful families who meet each Sunday with a little help for other churches when they can find it.  The two men in charge seemed so full of joy and determination and every member of the families who was old enough helped make the service happen.  I had a lot of fun trying to speak Spanish with them and enjoyed their fellowship even though I was sick.  Pray that the Lord will give me a message that will encourage their hearts and move them closer to His heart! 

Next Sunday I will be preaching (with Travis translating of course) here in Cuenca.  I will be the clean up hitter of sorts as it will be the last Sunday of the woman's conference.  The elders told me that I could follow along with their topic (which has yet to be clearly communicated to me) or I could speak about the importance of being a contributing member of the Body of Christ as they will be introducing this year's youth sponsors and the members of the leadership team that will be guiding them.  With these two things happening, it should be a fun message to deliver and again I hope the Spirit touches lives.

So now ya know :)

PS: My apologies for not including more pictures on the past couple blogs...my photographer uses a different computer and I'm a little bit illiterate when it comes to photo finishing on these things!